Monthly Archives: March 2016

For us in the upper midwest, it is the same every year. We wait, and wait, and wait. It reminds me of Heinz ketchup commercial when I was a kid, or maybe catsup as my grandmother used to call it. Apparently Heinz ketchup was slow to pour and also apparently that was a much revered trait in ketchup. (Catsup must have poured much much faster.)

(check the little video from Scott Krause. A lap on the dirt bike this past weekend)

Any way, it comes and it comes and it may never actually get here. But, this year it has come much faster and much sooner than we expected. But, let’s recap.

January is the dead of winter. It is cold, it is dark. We do get to do a bunch of skiing, up in the cable area.

I mostly just spend the winter trying to get the perfect #picnictableselfie. I am still trying.

We had a really strange winter this year. Not much snow at all in the Madison area, but very good reliable snow in the northwoods. It was actually pretty perfect, at least for us.

I managed to get another Birkie ski race in this year. I got beaten soundly by Adam though. Hanna urged him to let me win for just one year, but he decided that wasn’t in the cards. It was completely out of my hands to determine. I skied as fast as my old body will allow. He is like 25 and a pro triathlete. Duh, he beat me. He should have. (It is disappointing that I cannot beat someone who doesn’t really ski that well, but has a huge motor.) Next year I doubt I will just be able to be within a few minutes of him.

Scott Krause and I got out for a ride in February. FEBRUARY! That is unheard of here. It was muddy, and the ground was still frozen a couple of inches down, but holy cow. FEBRUARY!

That is a time stamp that you cannot see that says February 27. (Remember, those time stamps are really hard to change.)

I then hopped a plane and went to Italy to ride Strada Bianche Granfondo. It was a crazy amount of fun. 100k of gravel roads and tough steep hills. That is always the way to get your summer season started.

Luca and I about to take on the Granfondo. Crazy amount of fun.

Then to top off a really great spring that is progressing to summer faster than we could have imagined, we actually got out in perfect dirt in March. Off to the races this weekend, more ready than I have been in past years.